Mariel Belanger’s “Horse Woman sn̓kłca̓ʔsqáx̌aʔ tkłmílxʷ” is a Powerful Documentary on Indigenous Resilience, Family and Land Stewardship

Some may recognize Mariel Belanger’s name from her art career—she’s the owner of Studio sisp̓l̓k̓ Gallery in Vernon, B.C.—or from the credits on B.C.-shot vampire romance blockbuster Twilight: Eclipse (she was the third wife in the film), but more recently, the Syilx artist and performer has a new achievement to celebrate. Her film Horse Woman sn̓kłca̓ʔsqáx̌aʔ tkłmílxʷ, supported by TELUS STORYHIVE’s second Indigenous Storyteller Edition, was recently released this week on TELUS Optik TV channel 9, channel 126, Stream+ and STORYHIVE’s YouTube channel. 

Horse Woman sn̓kłca̓ʔsqáx̌aʔ tkłmílxʷ is a B.C.-based documentary that follows Sienna, a young woman from the Okanagan Indian Band (who also happens to be Mariel’s daughter), where she faces the fierce threat of wildfires and risks everything to protect her newly bonded horses. 

We talk to the STORYHIVE blog’s November cover star about reflections on her film journey, Indigenous identity, land stewardship and resilience through storytelling.

STORYHIVE: What was your background in filmmaking before creating Horse Woman sn̓kłca̓ʔsqáx̌aʔ tkłmílxʷ ?

Mariel Belanger: I have a lot of experience with digital filmmaking using just regular cameras—not using any professional equipment—doing community-based filmmaking. You know, guerrilla style. 

This was the first time I had a whole crew to do a documentary. I had been a youth program coordinator for an Indigenous youth centre back in the early 2000s and I had a group of youth who were very digitally inclined so I had to learn quickly how to source material that was free for us to access. That’s how I got into it. 

I got into knowing about the film world because I was an actor. I started as a teen actor in a native theatre company, which is no longer [around], but it was a part of our community for a couple years. I grew up with that background and I made some strides in acting. I was the third wife in Twilight: Eclipse.

That showed me what the capacity is for filmmaking. It's a really big world when it comes to making films and having our stories told.

STORYHIVE: Why did you feel this story needed to be told now when you saw the funding from STORYHIVE?

MB: It was, “If I can get this, I can do that.” The funding came at a good time for me; timing is a really important thing when it comes to funding, because you have to have the time to write whatever the idea was to tell kind of a bigger story. 

The reason I felt this story needed to be told now is because we're at the cusp of climate change. We know it's here—there’s no denying it. I lived through the denial; I was part of it and continuing that way didn’t align with my ethical core. I have to speak truthfully about how it’s affected us and why it’s so important for us to be on the land, practicing our culture as we always have. We need the landscape to remain as it’s been. Our language, for example, reflects what’s out there on the mountain; if it’s burnt, scorched or turned to desert, it’s no longer the same land. We have a responsibility to this place—to ensure the trees can keep growing because, without them, that’s our future: we’ll become a desert. This is why telling this story in this way matters so much.

STORYHIVE: The story is a healing story between Sienna and the horses, but also a story of healing between you and your daughter. How did you feel being able to express your story on screen?

MB: Yeah, it was cathartic—a difficult kind of catharsis. It’s still hard, actually, because of the themes themselves. It was scary to let her go to take care of her horses during that part. But then she came back, and in between filming, we waited until spring after we got the funding announcement. In November, though, she was hurt by her horse—she got kicked in the head. That almost ended the whole project. That’s what our bonus footage is about: her healing and what that process was like for her. She was determined to continue working with her horse and learning how and why that’s so important became part of my PhD work. So it was an unfortunate accident that turned into a beautiful way to tell a story.

STORYHIVE: Nature and land are a big part of the visuals here, can you tell me more about why that was important to tell both verbally and visually?

MB: Well, when I talk about it in the film, I discuss how our health as Indigenous people is directly connected to the health of the land. You can see how beautiful it is—even after a fire it remains beautiful. That beauty comes from the land’s natural cycles. If we, as Sqilxw people and as Indigenous people connected to this place, are allowed to continue our natural cycles like the land itself, we can thrive because we are of the land—that's what Sqilxw means. If we aren’t allowed to continue these practices, devastation will come to our land which is already proving true. Legislation passed about 75 years ago prevented us from practicing Indigenous burns and only now are people beginning to understand the importance of Indigenous-led burning. Without it, this is what happens to our communities. We can’t just leave—we’re here because society has dictated that we stay on the landscape in one place creating a lot of pressure.

We used to be migratory. Historically, people labeled us as "nomadic," but we were more like the birds. I like to explain it that way because conservation efforts are intended to protect these natural cycles and we are part of those cycles. We aren’t from the outside; we are born of this land. Colonization pulled us away from our responsibilities to it which harms us in ways we’re only beginning to understand. We’re just starting to reclaim our connection to the land without needing permits, without being regulated on where we’re allowed to go. Private property laws affect us deeply. This may not all be directly explained in the film but the intention behind showing those beautiful landscapes is to reveal how divided the land has become—individual plots, fields, separated by lines. If we’re allowed to continue moving through them freely without restriction, we can maintain a healthy relationship with the land. And I speak this way because like deer or bears, animals also need that unrestricted movement. We have to speak for them because they can’t.

STORYHIVE: Since completing this project, you have already secured several screenings. Can you tell me more about that process of getting screened already?

MB: Well, I'm very fortunate to have my co-producer Kelly Westgate. She's well known in the North Okanagan region and has been instrumental in helping spread the word. We've been partnering with different organizations, like the Performing Arts Center in Vernon, which graciously gave us space to hold a small opening. From that, we discovered many more people wanted to see it than could be accommodated, so we're now working on arranging more spaces and times for additional screenings.

Another helpful resource has been FilmFreeway, which has a list of different film festivals, many of them free, so you don't always have to pay to submit. That really helped us get the word out there.

For the larger festivals, you do have to pay to submit, but if it's a community-based story and you're focused on reaching the local audience, some local film festivals are very interested in showcasing community films.

STORYHIVE: You’ve been very successful with your social media following, showing off the screenings and accomplishments that Horse Woman sn̓kłca̓ʔsqáx̌aʔ tkłmílxʷ has received. Any tips for other filmmakers and content creators out there to get recognition for their stories?

MB: Yeah, I think some tips I could give other filmmakers would be about social media. It's not as hard as it seems. There are a lot of things people are doing that are catchy, but if you just stay consistent—this is the advice given to me—stay consistent with your messaging and posting. Post something at least once a week, and show what you’re doing in your process. People really enjoy that and want to see how your story continues, so they'll follow along.

Another tip is to always take pictures. Not only are they good for jogging your memory about what you were doing, but I take pictures everywhere I go and of all the things they give you, like handouts and pamphlets. I take a picture of those, and if I need to, I go back through my social media to remember, oh, that’s who that was and what that was about. Then I can put it all into a reel.

STORYHIVE: Now that you’ve been through the STORYHIVE program and process, what advice would you give to new applicants?

MB: I think some of the best advice would be to stick with the deadlines and try to focus. I know a lot of people end up doing these smaller projects on the side if they think they're “not professional” and just want to have their story told for their first experience. But give yourself some time—at least one day a week—to focus on all the smaller details.

STORYHIVE: What's next for you and Sienna? Where can we see you next?

MB: Sienna and I are continuing with the work on the land with the horses, and we have started to develop Studio sísp̓l̓k̓ built into our food forest, which is about Indigenous species and bringing the foods to us down here so that we're able to find those language bits. And we're continuing to tell our stories on the land.

Congratulations to Mariel on her remarkable achievements and recent premiere of her film. Stay tuned for next month’s cover star on the STORYHIVE blog. 

Watch Horse Woman sn̓kłca̓ʔsqáx̌aʔ tkłmílxʷ now on TELUS Optik TV channel 9, channel 126, Stream+ and STORYHIVE’s YouTube channel. 

Interested in getting your own project funded? Save the dates and get your pitches ready for some exciting opportunities coming up for filmmakers and digital content creators. Applications are now open for the STORYHIVE Video Podcast program.